An application of fuzzy set theory for seral-class constraints in forest planning models

Timber harvesting is often regulated by seral stage constraints that limit the amount of area available for harvest, and, concomitantly, the state of the residual forest. Typically, crisp seral-class boundaries are used in forest planning, but they fail to recognize that stands develop slowly into a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Forest ecology and management 2006-03, Vol.223 (1), p.395-402
Main Authors: Boyland, Mark, Nelson, John, Bunnell, Fred L., D’Eon, Robert G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
age structure
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Decision support system
decision support systems
Forest harvesting and working in forest
Forest management
Forest management. Stand types and stand dynamics. Silvicultural treatments. Tending of stands. Natural regeneration
forest stands
forest succession
forest trees
Forestry
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
planning
Seral constraints
simulation models
stand management
stand structure
Synecology
Terrestrial ecosystems
timber production
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Summary:Timber harvesting is often regulated by seral stage constraints that limit the amount of area available for harvest, and, concomitantly, the state of the residual forest. Typically, crisp seral-class boundaries are used in forest planning, but they fail to recognize that stands develop slowly into and out of seral classes, and that stands near a seral-class boundary have characteristics of adjacent seral classes. This can cause difficulties for managers when abrupt changes in the amount of a seral class occur as stands pass through a crisp seral boundary. As an alternative, we defined seral stages using fuzzy set theory that assigns stands partial membership in seral stages, thus providing a mechanism for incorporating natural stand dynamics within seral classes. We then simulated a series of scenarios with a harvest scheduling model that was constrained by the crisp and fuzzy set seral definitions and compared harvest levels and the amount of seral classes present over a 250-year planning horizon. The fuzzy seral definition better mimicked stand development and produced a smoother accumulation of older seral stands, resulting in a higher and more uniform level of harvest.
ISSN:0378-1127
1872-7042
DOI:10.1016/j.foreco.2005.12.001